War of our Galaxy
by janex.janeway
Summary: The Reapers have attacked. Forces are worn thin. The galaxy we knew is long gone. An Asari soldier, and a strong biotic, is sent along with her captain and crew to rescue a ship, deep in the Attican Traverse. But tragedy happens and she is left to finish the mission with her only a geth. But what happens when they discover that the mission was not all it seems? OCs :) Slight AU
1. Prologue Chapter

**Author's Note,** I'm currently new into writing stories on the web so I'm really inexperienced, so I would love feedback and reviews mainly, faves and follows for me is not really something special. Ok. First, I am doing a fanfic here, I'm not doing this because I just feel somewhat passionate towards the Mass Effect Universe, did I say somewhat? I meant Very. Now if I'm violating any terms or agreements, then sorry, I'm quite slow at understanding all this stuff. I only know the Copyright thingy, and yeah, I'll fix those things if I broke something :) Now, these are mostly my characters but there are other characters that are my friends, which I just wanted to add in for more flavor, to the story that is. Now Commander Shepard, crew and ship and mostly, well everything is owned by BioWare so I'll be making up maybe parts of the Citadel, new stations, planets and even systems. I just don't wanna get in trouble. Oh, and 'my' Commander was a girl and 'I' romanced Garrus. And I will also mention which of my friends are in the story, both here and in future ones. In this story my awesome friend Finesse will be the second main protagonist to my character, and then later on my dear friends Blaze and Jag will be appearing. So yeah enjoy and also sorry for this looong note.

And I will edit gaps, typos, nonsense and other stuff after I have completed this story or if something is really destroying the flow of the story or if I really have to/am requied to do so :)

Oh, no more of these hideous Author's Note, This is one time only... Unless I need to announce something

Mass Effect is copyrighted to BioWare. My and my friends' characters copyrighted to me. (My OCs)

* * *

To: Admiral Hackett, Citadel Council and Liara T'soni

From: Geth Consensus

-Decryption key required:_

-Decryption code: P1SystAll1N7CouncSpecSB3G3th :Encrypt6979

-Decryption key accepted. Access granted

-Decryption in progress...

-Decryption complete. Play message? Yes No

-Message playing

-The message starts, showing a dimly lit room, probably aboard a ship

-An Asari comes to view, wearing singed, black and scarlet colored armor

Is this thing on? Oh, it is...

-She clears her throat

Hello, Admiral, Council and Liara.

If you are seeing, then we are afraid and regret to inform you that we, or at least one of us will perhaps be unable to deliver this mission report to you personally. If we do make it out alive, then we shall report in as soon as we can.

Actually, personally I think this is a one way trip. I've got Finesse over here ready to send this as encrypted files to be passed onto you guys... But sure, I'll delete this vid part if we will make it.

-She looks out into the horizon

I doubt so. The ship is barely operational and I'll bet on my gun that there will be Reapers swarming us sooner or later...

-A Geth comes into view. Flaps on his 'head' tilted as if he was sad or mournful, maybe both?

I regret to inform you, but a Destroyer is converging onto our location.

-The asari smiles coldly while she shakes her head as if she just heard a very bad yet funny joke

Well just great! Isn't it?

Janeay and Finesse signing out. Well just in case...

-Video shakes about as someone picks up the PDA and runs to the hallway into an escape pod

You are still recording.

-Finesse the geth simply states before the message is cut

Once the message was finished Liara began reading the report from this heroine and her companion, no the two heroes who might as well have, no, who bought them more time. She stood up as she had read the report three times in the past hours already, she split-secondly decided she wanted to try this coffee that the asari spoke of. The bitter and aromatic drink from Earth. She couldn't still believe that she was here, no that they were here. Just two very different soldiers who managed to overcome odds that were not in their favor, odds that looked like Shepard's. She canceled that line of negative thinking as she took the report and went to the Mess Hall, where she grabbed a hot steaming cup of coffee.

Afterwards she took the elevator to go up and see the commander "Shepard? Are you in there?" "Just a moment Liara!" The commander replied, sounding out of breath. A few moments later the door opened, revealing Garrus, in his formal yet now very wrinkled clothes "Well... See you later Shepard. Oh, hey Liara" the turian waved with a smile, well a Turian one, and left for the Crew Deck "So... What can i do for you, Liara?" The Commander asked with a slightly hoarse tone. The Commander had flushed cheeks, wrinkled clothes, with her hair all over the place and on her neck she had an ill-concealed bite mark? "Do you remember our guests that we picked up?" The asari asked with both amusement and sadness "Yeah, I remember. The Geth and Asari, right?" "Yes, them. From the Freya" the Commander suddenly stood up and started to walk around "Amazing that the Turians agreed that the Asari could have one of those ships. And that they made other Normandy frigates, and named them Normandy-Class Stealth Frigates! I mean we were like the test flight guys. Basically... More or less-ly-ish" Shepard said with a big smile and beamed with proudness and happiness. Liara simply nodded "Well, have you read this yet?" She asked with a small smile and gave Shepard the report "No... Why?" Shepard asked with a confused look "Read it and then you'll know why" Liara said sadly. She turned around, exited the Captain's Quarters and entered the elevator where she proceeded downwards to resume her normal activities, thoughtful while drinking coffee. She decided that the taste would slowly become better once she would have gotten used to it. Meanwhile, the Commander sat back, put her feet on the coffee table in front of her and started reading the report...


	2. Chapter 1: Our Mission and Tragedy

Shepard just watched the vid, which brought tears to eyes and a slight heart-ache as the ships, the Freya and Normandy, were bearing similar damage resemblance.

Well, she thought after seeing a sliver of the collapsed beams that now made an arch and was covered by a kinetic barrier.

At least she didn't think about if they survived, because what would the meaning of a looooong report be if one of them died after the opening vid, it would be so unorthodox of sorts. She turned to the next part of the report, revealing a huge diary of sorts, no this was a final moment recollection. She began reading, all ready fearing the worst. Before she continued, she thought about the geth unit and if he ever got a name after its independence 'Oh wait, he did. His name was Finesse. Why? Probably revealed later on in this report' Shepard thought to herself "I wonder if they formed a bond of more than friendship?..." She murmured thoughtfully to herself, then there was a slight evil twinkle in her eyes "Only one way to find out..." Shepard started reading with a Cheshire Cat grin.

* * *

I was nervous. I had this feeling. A feeling of hidden danger and menacing doom. I stared out into the vast space. Whatever I experienced vanished when I felt a tap on my shoulder "You okay?" My captain, Teasa asked "Yeah, I'm alright. I guess I'm just tired after our last sector survey" I replied with a small heartfelt grin. She offered me a hand "Come on, let's go get something to eat. Ensign, take the helm." I took her hand and we walked towards the mess hall of the ship. Speaking of our ship... Our ship was a Normandy-Class stealth frigate, named SSV Freya after the Norse goddess (Why? I'll have to ask Aethyta of that the next time I meet her) and since it was owned by the Asari Matriarchy, we didn't need to name it like the other Normandy-Class Frigates but it still needed to be called SSV for some terms and agreements thing. Most of the crew were asari but there were some humans and turians also. There was also a geth, who joined us after a 'little' fight, where it managed to knock-out 13 crew members until I managed to disable it with an electrical shot to its 'throat'. But later on, after two whole month of mistrust and grueling interrogations this geth proved to be _very_ unique. Its mission was so weird and unexpected, that it baffled me and my superiors. Why? Because the geth wanted to experience simple feelings, so they upgraded this geth to be more advanced so it could feel sadness, anger and happiness, I was intrigued but it lacked a name so we on board just called it 'Geth' and it didn't seem to mind. Also, later on though, we got info that confirmed its mission from Commander Shepard, which she said she had gotten from a trustworthy source. Anyways, I'm Lieutenant Janeay, pronounced Jane-a, I'm second-in-command and obviously, Captain Teasa is the commanding officer of the ship. We are currently on a search and rescue mission involving a lost cruiser, who we are told to have managed to save a colony from an incoming Reaper attack, later on though, they sent a distress signal which we were currently tracking now, and we've been at it for hours. Most of the helmsmen, including me, I'm part time pilot, were already tired to the bone. We would spend nights searching for any traces. Sure some of us have been sleeping but it just hasn't felt to be enough. Well luckily I was introduced to coffee, a drink from Earth which people told me it helps you stay awake. So now I'm having breakfast with my captain, both drinking coffee "So, have you managed to locate the signal yet?" Teasa asked with tired eyes, she liked to preoccupy her tired state with conversations. Any at all, including the ones that she already knew the outcome of, but instead of being mean I just join in. I took a sip of my coffee before replying "No... Not really. But I was going through the logs and there's just something I can't quite put my finger on. If they managed to escape, long before the first Reaper arrived to take the other colonies, then what did they encounter? I've checked for radioactive nebulae and ion storms but there have been none in this sector for the past three weeks. It just bothers me a bit" I said with a weary sigh at the end. Teasa just shrugged before poking her plate of eggs. Yes we had the honour of having a little kitchen place. We sat in silence while slowly eating and drinking. I decided that I wanted to be updated with the latest available news, I flicked my Omni-Tool to life and opened the ANN channel from the Extranet. But for some reasons it wouldn't load. I tried reloading it, and then again and once more "Strange, the Extranet doesn't seem to be working..." I checked connectivity, _No Connections Available_ it said. Then, just when Teasa was going to say something, Ensign Cole's voice blared trough the com "Captain! A cruiser of Cerberus origin just dropped out of FTL!" Now there were alarms turned on, casting a red hue around us "They're on an attack course! Raising shields, brace for impact!" After that we felt everything shake as we were hit by the first volley of shots. Me, Teasa, the geth and other crew members ran to our posts throughout the shaking ship "They scrambled fighters!" Cole informed us once we stepped into the cockpit. I quickly mounted the starboard turret controls while the geth took the port ones. I shot at fighters "Where the hell are these fighters coming from?!" Teasa yelled "I can't locate the source!" The ensign sobbed, poor girl, probably her first mission and she's already being shot at. Oh wait, doesn't that always happen on first missions? "Captain, let us locate the source" the geth offered "Ensign, switch with the geth!" They switched and then the geth began re-calibrating our sensors "There is a carrier on the other side of that moon" Teasa cursed "Send a distress signal using standard Asari and Alliance encryption codes to any ship, comm buoy or station!" I said to the geth "Encrypting now. Transmitting... Transmission complete" "Umm... captain?" "What is it ensign?" "There is a boarding ship on the port hull" "Dammit, marines to the port side!" I ordered through the comm "And close up the CIC!" I was thankfully in my armor and had my pistol with me all the time. I activated my barriers as the marines used whatever solid objects as cover. We got into position and waited as they opened the bulkhead. We waited ten second. Fifteen. Twenty. Twenty-five, and then... The bulkhead fell down, but there was smoke. I couldn't see a thing. But I didn't realize their tactic before it was to late "GRENA-" a marine shouted, but was cut of by the blast. Assault troopers and Centurions flooded in, shooting at fazed soldiers. I shot one in the stomach and used him as a meat shield as I advanced, once I was in-range, I threw the body at his comrade and punched the ground to release biotic power through a nova like outward shock wave, which threw some up to the ceiling, breaking others and stunning those who had shields. Then I slid towards a Centurion and shot him at point-blank and began shooting others. Until a high-powered shot missed me by an inch, and several more followed in a bee-line, slowly redirecting towards me. Then I saw her, an infamous Phantom, a highly dangerous and feared unit, and the most characteristic of all a lethal and fully trained Cerberus assassin. She charged towards me with her sword on her side, ready to swing. I easily managed to shoot her until she was at melee range, then I took up to my martial arts training. I jumped over her and kicked her in the back, she spun around bringing down her blade, only to hit the floor. She attempted to grab me and draw me into her sword but I used her force against her. I took her arm and broke it. She briefly screamed in pain before trying once again to slash at me. I sidestepped and kicked her in the face, making her head sharply, probably receiving a whiplash. She then did the unexpected, she threw couple of discs at me. As they sailed passed my face, I barely registered the rapidly accelerating blinking red light in the middle of them. They exploded shortly after, decimated my barriers and giving me gash above my temple. She lunged at me, barely missing me by centimeters. As she prepared for another swing, I saw an opening. A risky one but still better than dying. As she raised her hand above her head, she exposed her neck area. She drove her blade down, I punched her in the forearm, making her miss yet again. I then quickly followed up with my other hand, which punched her in the windpipe which caused her to choke and drop her blade. Here was my chance, in a blink of an eye, I had taken her weapon and sliced her horizontally, she dropped to her knees as she bled furiously and her respiratory system failing her, and then dropped dead. I then received a painful gift from someone, another Phantom, but this time, she had hit me with all her shot which obliterated my barriers and made me drop the blade. She then managed to hit me in my gun arm. I grasped at my wounded arm and slowly backed up until i was at the wall. Only then did i take in my surroundings, everyone was either dead or critically injured and they were currently trying to get into the CIC. Then as the Phantom was about to strike me, the door opened, causing the Phantom to stop mere inches away from my throat. I looked to the door, there stood captain Teasa and the geth. Only now, she had her Revenant and it had it's weapon, the Widow sniper rifle "Hey, mind if I ask you all to leave my ship?" She asked with humor "No? Well then..." In a flash, she had pulled up her gun, and started firing. Her spray of bullets hit everyone who were standing. I barely had time to duck. The geth shot the Phantoms who tried to hide themselves but inevitably failed. Then later on, it collected all the Centurions and troopers grenades, attached them to a remote detonator. Threw them on board their shuttle, along with the dead troops. I set it on auto-pilot towards the carrier with enough explosives to destroy a station, that is if there is a power pipe that connects from the main hangar bay to the core. Around five minutes later there was an explosion. The carrier, which had move above the cruiser, had been destroyed and with it the cruiser, when a large part of the carrier collided with it. "Hah! Nice one geth" Ensign Cole cheered " Now, help me with the wounded and dead, will you?" As we were about to pick up one of my now dead friends "Warning! Cerberus Frigate on intercept trajectory" the ship's VI informed "Damn!..." Captain Teasa swore as we went back towards the cockpit. The VI was at least right about one thing, it was Cerberus reinforcements but it failed to mention that there were three of them. "Try to get those engines back online!" "Error. The drive core has been damaged. Error. Weapons are offline." "Dammit! They must have hit it when they attacked!" "Captain! They're charging weapons!" Then everything happened so fast, Teasa ordered us to go back to the CIC but as we ran towards the door, a blast hit the escape pod side and everything around us exploded. I stood up, coughing seconds later "Teasa?..." I looked around until i saw her "No... no, Teasa..." I sobbed, she was dead, there was no doubt about it. The blast must have hit her head on, because her face was hardly recognizable "Cole?" "She has perished" The geth said as it stood up from the rubble "She was sucked into space from that hole. We hardly managed to seal it. But we were not quick enough. We are so sorry" It sounded sad and guilty as it said it. I was crying now, then I remembered the risks that we accepted when we trained as soldiers so I gained back my composure, well most of it "Damage report and status?" I asked quietly "Hull integrity at CIC is at 19.90109% and degrading. Weapons, power and life-support on the lower decks has been shut down. Ship VI un-operational. Cerberus ships are attempting to salvage. Expect intruders." I sighed and took Teasa's weapon "Well, let's get ready for them then..." As i medi-gelled myself, I couldn't stop thinking about Teasa "What's the status of the cockpit?" "Hull integrity at 36.9830023%. Mass effect fields are currently covering holes. Low power. 19.36% remaining of emergency power." "Great. Help me get her there" as we moved her, I could clearly see the damage. There was a big hull breach where the escape pod used to be and if it weren't for the mass effect field that was there, we would have all been sucked into space. But it was both currently our salvation and destruction, because if we would sustain more damage then both the emergency power generator and the mass effect field would turn off "How much time do we have until they arrive?" I ask while eating a high calorie bar "Four minutes" it replied a moment later. I wolfed down the remaining bars that I had on me. If I don't need to use my biotics then great, this was just a precaution. I took a table, crates and some chairs to the door of the cockpit, making a barricade while the geth got some ammo, grenades and medi-gel, a LOT of it. Then after ten minutes of waiting, the sound of heavy booted footsteps are heard, along with Centurions barking orders. I had also taken the liberty of taking some spare weapons. That included a sniper rifle and shotguns. I took a sniper rifle, and scoped around. There were a total of 23 Cerberus units here. I gave the go sign to the geth. Together we sought out targets and pulled our triggers. Once the shots rung out and a Trooper and a Centurion were dead on the ground, all Hell broke loose. We wer counter sniped by Nemeses and then smoke grenaded by Centurions. "Ugh!" I cried out as my barriers broke for the tenth time. I had already overheated two sniper rifles. It seemed that the Cerberus force that was in front of us to begin with was just a portion of the whole total. I took a Tempest SMG and firing out of the cover blindly. I felt some relief when I heard the grunts of pain and hollow wheezes of death. I now took a shotgun to shoot at a face of a Phantom, instantly killing her. The geth was on his last clip. I peeked out of cover. Only a dozen or so remained "Here are some clips" I tossed him the rest of my spare ammo "Keep those Phantoms off me okay?" It nodded. I took two grenades threw them blindly before hopping over the cover and shooting at troopers and Centurions. An unshielded Phantom stepped in front of me, making us both recoil in shock. I acted out on instinct, using a biotic projectile that I aimed at her, pulled her of the ground. I followed up with another projectile, which I threw at her suspended form in the air. The result of two differently based biotics caused an explosion the ripped her body apart while she screamed in agony as she was hurled at the wall because of the resulting force. I stepped out of cover, looking around and seeing no one "I guess that as all of th-" I stopped in mid-sentence because I registered the barely audible _click_ before turning around in horror as I faced a turret. A moment later I was being peppered by high velocity powered slugs. I felt them ripping my barriers apart then felt each shot pierce my armor and then eventually digging themselves deep within my skin, pain exploding throughout my body before I fell to the ground as my knees gave away. I felt blood flowing out of me in torrents and my breathing going shallow and rigid. My vision was slowly becoming darker and darker by the second and a ringing could be heard in my ears. I barely heard the explosion of the turret before I saw the 'face' of the geth standing over me before kneeling and applying something that made adrenaline course through my body and therefore numbing the pain when it applied a hefty amount of medi-gel over my bloody chest. It took me up bridal style to the cockpit. It laid me down before taking of my breastplate and prodding the damage. I cried out in pain "We are sorry to cause you pain, young asari but this is a necessity to preserve your life" he then slipped something metallic into my wounds while I screamed in agony. After what seemed an eternity of pain, it finally managed to get all the bullets and fragments of them from my wounds. It had also wrapped some layers of heavy duty bandages over my chest. Thankfully none of the bullets managed to hit my lungs, guess it was because of my armor. I looked into a gleaming shard of reflective glass, registering my appearance. I looked more dead than alive and I felt like that too. I had a gash running from my temple to my lower cheek. There was dried blood all over me. Then my focus seemed to diminish. I managed to look out the cockpit window, tearing up as I saw two more shuttles coming this way. I stood up, grunting and gasping as pain exploded with each step, as I went staggeringly towards the main console. I pressed a button for identification and authorization "Initiate s-self-destruct sequence. A-activation code FreyaPiAlphaTheta. Authorization, TeasaM1A and JaneayNiaCR1" the console, which had a separate VI, chirped in a slightly static voice "Authorization and identification confirmed. Set timer for core explosion" I bit my lower lip until I felt blood sliver into my mouth "Set for t-ten minutes" "Lieutenant! Is this the most viable course of action" The geth asked with worry. Cerberus probably figured out what was happening, because the shuttles suddenly turned around and went back to their respective frigate. I snarled "If I'm going down, I"m taking those bastards with me "Geth, help me load the eezo charges down to the core. How many do you think we'll need to take out their ships?" The geth looked thoughtful for a moment before answering "It will take six 'eezo' spacial charges to accommodate the core blast" "How big will the radius?" I asked hastily. It looked a bit troubled before answering "It would be an explosion ranging from 40 to 210 kilometers. Given that they will all detonate at the same time and the amount element zero in the core is enough" I just nodded thoughtfully "Can you do a long-range hack?" I dared to ask "Yes" it simply answered. I stood up with renounced vigor and determination, I pulled it to the Captain's Command Console "I want you to hack their frigates so that their FTL drice and engines will report a danger or a leak so they can abandon us" it nodded and began to move its fingers around the holographic console. Soon it turned a sort of geth-like console. Before I could question it about it, it simply stated "We prefer to work on familiar type consoles" I watched in wonder as he managed to break through the Cerberus firewalls and take over the VIs of all the three frigates, geth still manage to surprise me with their amount of skills. Now with their ships disabled and in lock down, we were both sitting ducks while the timer ticked to self-destruction. Four minutes and forty-seven seconds left. I hurriedly put on my breather helmet and space-ified my armor. I went through the kinetic barrier and into the void of space, as there were gaping hull breaches dotting the ceiling. I then 'ran' towards the elevator while trying not to cry at the still and lifeless faces of my crew mates, who some if not most were friends. I was now in the middle of the elevator and I don't really know whether to be happy that the elevator was no more or furious at the now torn ceiling with the elevator cords floating around above me. I went hopped of the threshold and slowly 'fell' down to the engineering deck _'Now just to find those charges'_ I thought impatiently to myself "Uh, hey geth-buddy... Postpone the self-destruct for ten more minutes, because I can't find those charges" Its reply was came quickly, although with a hint of static "We do not have the permission to do so, lieutenant" I groaned out loud and very un-ladylike at that. I cursed some colorful asari words while I looked around in panic for those spacial charges "How many minutes do we have?" I asked out of breath. Shockingly, a very asari-like voice answered "We have managed to postpone it for twenty more minutes, given your situation" I had about a thousand questions swimming inside my head but I decided to let it drop, for now or at least I would remember to ask about it again. After ten grueling minutes I finally found the spacial charges, but there were only two "I guess this is better than nothing..." I muttered bitterly to myself. I attached them on each side of the core and set for maximum yield. Then came my wondrous adventure of trying to deactivate your mag-boots in zero gravity. The first one is the easy bit, since you can just bend down and deactivate that boot. The other one, is a whole other story. Since when you released the other one, that said leg will start to float. Even if you try to keep it on the ground. After a minute or two of trying to turn off my other mag-boot, I gave up and kicked the wall. Once fastened I started climb the wall, er.. walk up the wall is more appropriate to say. Once up the wall I practically ran towards the cockpit. Once behind the barrier I ripped of my helmet and shot the fastenings of attached environmental parts. When I was done I collapsed into one of the still-in-a-okay-condition-chairs. Only now feeling the aftershocks of my physical activity, accompanied by the pain of still fresh wounds and exhaustion. I was barely awake by the time the self-destruct timer chirped _'Two minutes and thirty seconds remaining for core implosion.'_ Suddenly the geth turned its head quickly around "Warning! Unidentified vessel incoming!" I instantly sprang back to full-alert "Who is it? Cerberus? Geth? Alliance? Reapers?!" I expected the worse and just closed my eyes and waited for my certain fate. It was either death by the Reapers or Cerberus. Then a ship came out of FTL that caused me to open my eyes to witness the sight before me. It was the SSV Normandy SR-2. It was Commander Shepard's ship "He-l-o? Th-h-s is th-e-e S-V Nor-ndy. I- a-any-dy ther-e-e?" A static voice said through secure Alliance comm channels "Yes! We can hear you! We need immediate assistance!" I said into the barely working comm console "R-r-ger th-t" I watched in hope as they blew the frigates apart. Then the VI chirped once more _'Core implosion in one minute and two seconds.'_ I practically leapt towards the console and yelled the deactivation codes before I leaned against a wall, eyes now glazed, tired and unfocused. Then I felt an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion, happiness and sadness all at the same time, as I slid down the wall and closed my eyes, sighing with relief before I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry it took me so long to update :P But yeah, hope you enjoyed it :D From now on I'll try to update each three to six days, okay? :D


End file.
